Over the past couple of weeks, Marija VK5MAZ have been lucky to work a number of overseas SOTA, Parks, and Castle activators. These have all been on the 20m band where conditions have been very good.
Below is a selection of those we have worked.
WEDNESDAY 27th APRIL 2022.
IQ5QO/p – DCI-PO029 WCA-i12223
Danny OT4V/p – ONFF-0614
IQ5QO/p – DCI-PO023 and WCA-i07481
Duncan MM5AJN mobile
Fraser MM0EFI/p – SOTA GM/ ES-065
TUESDAY 26th APRIL 2022.
Miroslav OK1CYC/p – HEMA OK/ HST-030
Alain EA2/F5ODQ – SOTA EA2/ NV-036
Danny OT4V/p – ONFF-0780
Lorenc EA6KB/p – SOTA EA6/ MA-047
Dave G4AKC bicycle mobile
Above:- Dave G4AKC’s bicycle mobile setup.
FRIDAY 22nd APRIL 2022
TM2IF – SOTA FL/ VL-071
Miroslav OK1CYC/p – HEMA OK/ HST-002
His 1st VK HEMA contact.
Mikhaiil LY2BIS/p – LYFF-0320
TM2IF – SOTA F/ PO-207
Rick 2E0FRS pedestrian mobile
Rob 2E0AOO pedestrian mobile
Steve G4NVF bicycle mobile
Dave G4AKC bicycle mobile
Fraser MM0EFI/p – SOTA GM/ ES-068
THURSDAY 21st APRIL 2022
Steve G4NVF bicycle mobile
Dave G4AKC bicycle mobile.
MONDAY 18th APRIL 2022.
Micke F4HZR/p – FFF-3221
1st time he had worked a VK during an activation.
John CT2GSN/p – SOTA CT/ MN-027
DL8ECA/p – DLFF-0817
DQ44WCA – DLFF-0580
Luc ON7DQ/p – SOTA ON/ ON-026
Peter ON4UP/p – SOTA ON/ ON-029
Sven DK6HS/p – SOTA DM/ RP-400
Ingo DH5ST/p – SOTA DM/ RP-413 and DLFF-0026
Alain EA2/F5ODQ/p – SOTA EA5/ AT-096
Lutz DL3SBA/p – SOTA DM/ NW-024
Here is a video taken by Andrew VK1AD of Marija worjking Lutz.
Martin OE5REO/p – SOTA OE/ OO-376
SUNDAY 17th APRIL 2022.
Iratxe CT7/EA2DNO – SOTA CT/ DL-001
Bernardo EC1DD/p – SOTA EA1/ PO-015
Joaquin EC7AT/p – EAFF-0571
MiroslavOK1HBP/p – OKFF-696
Simon G7WKX/p and Nic M7NDC/p – SOTA G/ SP-012
Mikhail LY2BIS/p – LYFF-0312
SteveG4NVF/p and Dave G4AKC/p – Bicycle mobile
Christian DL3EC/p – SOTA DL/ EW-059
SATURDAY 16th APRIL 2022.
DL20SOTA/p – SOTA DM/ BW-857
10th APRIL 2022.
Danny OT4V/p – ONFF-0302
Ray S54X/p – S5FF-0340
Antonio EC2AG/p – SOTA EA2/ BI-030
Steve G4NVF/p and Dave G4AKC/p – bicycle mobile
9th APRIL 2022.
Mihai OZ/YO6SM/p – SOTA OZ/ OZ-008
SamF4GYG/p – FFF-3216
SP5KD/p – SPFF-2363
PA226FF – PAFF-0226
Hans DF9PE/p – WCA DL-00079
Claudio IZ1DME/p – DC-CN305
Stefano IU1GHC/p – SOTA I/ PM-410
Wlodek SP5Z – SPFF-2364
Harm PC5Z – PAFF-0216
8th APRIL 2022.
Neil G0WPO/p – SOTA G/ CE-005 & GFF 0058
“Absolutely great to get you yesterday on sota G/CE-005 Wendover Woods. Skip must have been just right for us with a 59 received and 57 sent contact. At my end KX3 and KXPA100 running 60w into shortened EFHW in inv vee config apex at 7m. Location was also WWFF GFF-0058 Chiltern Hills. Cheers Neil G0WPO.”
On Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th April 2022, I was allocated the special call of VK90ABC for a second go around. Marija and I used the call back in February. VK90ABC is a special call to celebrate the 90th birthday of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
I had a bit of a sleep in on Saturday morning so I didn’t get out to the shack until about 9.00 a.m. local time. That left me 3 hours to play on the radio before heading off to my grandson Flynn’s 1st birthday party.
Most of my activity on Saturday morning was on the 10m band where I logged 29 stations from the USA, New Zealand, Costa Tica, Japan, New Zealand, Indonesia, and Asiatic Russia. I then moved to 40m where I logged 29 Australian stations. I then headed to 20m where I logged 7 stations from VK2, VK4, New Zealand, and England. I was quite amazed to work Fred G0EHQ in England at 0214 UTC on 20m on the long path.
It was time to jump into the shower and head off to Flynn’s birthday party.
I got home from the party at about 5.00 p.m. local time. After arriving home I had a bit of fun on 20m on the long path, working a number of stations in Europe and the United Kingdom, and the USA on the short path.
During Saturday evening I logged some VK stations on 40m and 80m, and then had a lot of fun working a stack of USA stations on 20m on the short path.
By the end of Saturday I had 278 QSOs in the log, including 35 different DXCC entities.
On Sunday morning I kicked off on the 10m band once again, where I worked a number of North American stations and about 100 Japanese stations. The band conditions on 10m were terrific.
Below is a video of the pile-up I had going into Japan on 10m.
On Sunday afternoon I worked a very big pile-up on the long path to Europe. Below is a video showing the pile-up as heard in my shack.
And here is a video taken by Peter VK3YE in Victoria who was listening in to me in Victoria.
All up over the 1 & 1/2 days, I logged a total of 770 stations which included 57 different DXCC entities.
The majority of my contacts were on the 20M band as the graph below shows.
I worked the following countries:-
Asiatic Russia
Australia
Austria
Azores
Balearic Islands
Belarus
Belgium
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Canada
Canary Islands
Ceuta & Melilla
China
Costa Rica
Croatia
Czech Republic
Denmark
England
Estonia
European Russia
Federal Republic of Germany
Finland
France
Greece
Hungary
India
Indonesia
Ireland
Isle of Man
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Marshall Islands
Mexico
Netherlands
New Zealand
Northern Ireland
Norway
Panama
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Republic of Korea
Romania
Scotland
Slovak Republic
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Thailand
Trinidad & Tobago
United States
Wales
The map below shows my contacts around the world.
Conditions on the long path (LP) on 20m on both Saturday and Sunday into Europe and the United Kingdom were excellent. The short path into Europe was virtually non-existent.
The map below shows my contacts into Europe and UK on the LP on 20m.
I made just a handful of North American contacts on 40m. The majority of my USA and Canadian contacts were on the 20m band and the 10m band.
The map below shows my North American QSOs.
There was a very nice opening on 10m on Sunday morning to Japan, with nearly 100 Japanese stations logged. The map below shows my 10m Japanese QSOs.
I logged a total of 176 VK stations and 14 New Zealand stations over the 2 day period.
At about 1055 UTC on 4th April 2022, I tuned in to CRFX Toronto, CANADA, broadcasting in the English language on 6070 kHz.
The broadcast was coming from the Toronto 1 kW transmitter in Canada.
The overall reception of the CFRX Toronto was poor-fair. From 1100 UTC there was severe interference from the Voice of Korea broadcasting in the Japanese language on the same frequency.
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Below is a short video showing my reception of the CFRX Toronto.
VK5PAS 